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Welcome back to The Startup Podcast’s community newsletter - we’re excited that you’ve joined us as we provide a guide through the unique mindset and approach that drives Silicon Valley style disruption at scale.
This week, we explore runway and the insiders return to discuss the latest in the tech world, including where is princess Kate!
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Edu: Runway - Are You On Track For Takeoff?
Startups cannot survive without a runway…
Unless they’ve reached escape velocity.
Haven’t reached takeoff? Wondering how you keep your startup on track? Chris and Yaniv are here to help you through the tough times
Together they discuss:
Runway refers to how long a startup can operate with its current resources before shutting down. It depends on cash, burn rate, and other factors like loss of interest or personal commitments.
Becoming cash flow positive is not the same as becoming sustainably viable. Startups need "escape velocity" to become viable in the long run.
A founder's personal runway, like their financial situation and family commitments, impacts the startup's runway. Founders with more cushion have longer personal runways, benefitting their startups.
Founders should continually provide value and work to extend runway. They should start fundraising well before needing money.
Putting a startup into "hibernation" by eliminating costs can extend runway. But momentum is hard to regain, especially for simple SaaS startups. Hibernation often only works for startups with tech or intellectual property.
When considering hibernation, founders should make rational decisions, not emotional ones to save the startup. They should consider realistic success chances given the situation.
Stay on track while you reach escape velocity - tune into this episode to learn how!
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Reacts: Princess Kate Controversy, TikTok Banned In US & Apple’s MASSIVE EU Fine
The insiders are back and just in time - tech news this week has been MASSIVE!
Together they discuss:
Figure AI Funding: Discover how Figure AI secured a staggering $675M investment to advance humanoid robot technology from the biggest names in AI (Google, NVIDIA and more!) , despite uncertainties about mass production.
Elon Musk vs. OpenAI: The team unravel the legal battle as Elon Musk sues OpenAI, raising questions about the transition from non-profit to for-profit and ethical considerations.
Open Source vs. Closed Source AI: Delve into the debate surrounding the merits of open and closed source approaches in AI development, considering collaboration, power concentration, and national security implications.
Mitigating "Elon Risk": Explore concerns about the significant influence of Elon Musk across diverse fields like space, AI, and self-driving cars, and discuss strategies to diversify innovation sources and mitigate risks.
Don’t miss out on the latest tech developments!
Founders! Get free advice from experienced operators. Here's how 👇
Chris Saad and I are going to record a Q&A episode of The Startup Podcast in the next week or two.
Submit your question, and if we think it's a good one we will answer it as part of the episode.
Formula For A Successful Startup
The formula for a successful startup is relatively easy to describe but almost impossible to do.
1. Solve real problems for real people
2. Deliver it at massive scale
3. Find a way to do it profitably
In that order.
Remove anyone and anything that’s distracting you from this list or unable to contribute to it effectively.
Find and hold onto anyone helping you execute the list more quickly and/or more effectively for dear life. Do whatever it takes to retain, motivate and align them.
The rest is noise.
Substitution Heuristic
“When faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.” — Daniel Kahneman
This is sometimes called the Substitution Heuristic. Once you start looking, you see it everywhere.
It is everywhere in startups. This is dangerous.
In the end, every startup needs to answer the same three “difficult questions”:
1. Can we create something valuable enough that people will make it part of their lives?
1. Can we deliver that value at massive scale?
2. Can we do that in a highly profitable way?
But these questions are hard to answer, so a lot of startups end up trying to answer different questions instead:
-Can we raise a lot of venture capital?
-Can we get paying customers?
-Can we get our faces in the newspaper?
-Can we hit a set of KPIs?
None of these are bad questions to answer (well maybe the newspaper one), but they are not THE questions. If you don’t realise that the substitution heuristic has taken over, you will go far off course.
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Until next week,
Chris and Yaniv